Why the State kept cool on Ballali's resignation
By The Citizen Reporter

Former governor of the Bank of Tanzania Daudi Ballali, led a dramatic life during his tenure at the central bank and when he tried to escape from disgrace on December 19, last year, his move was foiled by the appointing authority.

This was about three weeks ago when he wrote a resignation letter to the Head of State after serving the central bank for nearly ten years, but his letter was not answered.

As you are aware, I have been hospitalized for nearly three months in Boston, USA, after major surgery due to the complication of my medical condition, there's no indication as to when I will fully recover to enable me resume my responsibilities at the bank, read part of the alleged resignation letter by Mr Ballali.

The letter further stated that: In the circumstances, I feel obliged to vacate my position, and I hereby tender my resignation as governor of the Bank of Tanzania.

Credible sources within the central bank believe that the former governor was trying to pre-empt the much awaited EPA report that has finally established payment of Sh133 billion to ghost companies.

While Mr Ballali was trying to escape the sack by offering his resignation before the EPA report was released, his boss viewed this move as a trick and decided to remain silent.

Sources further told The Citizen this week that the State had wanted to act against Mr Ballali after it had gone through the EPA report.

The move was aimed at boosting public confidence as well as gaining credibility of Tanzanians who, in the past two years, have been lost trust on the manner the Government was dealing with corruption allegations.

The President has been trying to play his cards very close to his chest to ensure that he restores public trust to his Government by taking stern measures against grave allegations directed to public officials, a senior politician from the ruling party said under condition of anonymity.

It is believed that after succeeding to silence the critics of the mining sector, the next step was to act immediately on the EPA report which has haunted the Government during the past few months.

Therefore, allowing Mr Ballali to resign voluntarily amid claims of massive theft of public funds revealed by the international auditing firm -Ernest and Young - would have neutralised the impact of the much awaited report.

But within the BoT, there are conflicting views about the former governor. Some believe he has been made a scapegoat, while others say he failed to govern one of the country's highly respected financial institution in the country.

Whether measured through the EPA findings or the number of scandals that rocked his ten-year tenure at BoT, Mr Ballali&#65533;s services as governor was clouded by much more grave allegations which dented his image.

Last July, opposition MPs lead by Dr Wilbrod Slaa among other things, demanded the voluntary resignation of the central bank&#65533;s governor to allow investigation of the allegations.

Quoting a highly circulated dossier that detailed how billions of taxpayers money were stolen and stashed away using dubious deals.

Although the authenticity of the circulated dossier was not verified a hundred per cent, most of the issues raised caused wide spread public concern and therefore it can't be dismissed as total lies as some people want it to be.

Among other things, the dossier claims that the country has been robbed of about Sh997.9 billion ($792 million) through ghost deals and fraud during the past decade by some Asians businesspeople assisted by top Government officials.

The dossier, which is being circulated online by the so-called good citizens, among other things, names a syndicate of five Asian businesspeople including Ketan Somaiya who was jailed in Kenya for fraud and the man behind the radar scam, Sailesh Vithlani, as key people who masterminded the robbing of Government funds.

The well-detailed dossier, which was even quoted by some Members of Parliament while addressing serious fraud within the central bank, also names some top civil servants who are said to have supported the robbing of the country through ghost projects.

The dossier named five projects including the BoT twin towers, Meremeta Gold project, foreign debt servicing account (EPA), Asian crime syndicate and import support funds to illustrate how the looting took place.

But despite all these grave allegations directed against him, Mr Ballali strongly denied any wrong doing, insisting that his morale to serve Tanzanians was still very high.